Britain's fish and chip shops are fighting for survival by cutting their portion sizes to lure in health-conscious takeaway customers.

More chippies than ever before are offering smaller sized meals as they try harder to compete with Chinese and Indian dishes.

And salad is now firmly on many menus as an alternative to chips to slash calorie levels, according to the National Federation of Fish Fryers.

Scroll down for video

According to the Office for National Statistics, the average price of fish and chips rose from £2.42 to £4.74 between 1996 and 2011

Spokesman Andrew Crook said chippies were feeling the pinch thanks to fears over obesity and the rising cost of fish.

According to the Office for National Statistics, the average price of fish and chips rose from £2.42 to £4.74 between 1996 and 2011. In many places it now costs more than £6.

Mr Crook said: 'We are now encouraging our members to offer a smaller portion option to their customers.

'Fish and chips is one of the healthiest takeaway meals per 100g but the quantity of food we are expected to serve skews the nutritional results and in reality many customers will share a portion of chips.

'By offering a portion designed to be an individual meal, fish and chip shops can offer customers the option.'

There are 10,500 fish and chip shops in the UK. Britons eat 382 million portions of the takeaway every year, spending £1.2bn, and eight in ten of us eat in a fish and chip shop at least once a year.

But numbers have dipped - fish and chip shops now account for just 5.6 per cent of the takeaway market compared with 6.4 per cent in 2009.

Craig Maw, who runs Kingfisher Fish & Chips in Plymouth, Devon, and was recently named the Marine Stewardship Council's UK chef of the year, said owners had to offer smaller meals and lighter bites if they wanted to survive.

Fish and chip shops now account for just 5.6 per cent of the takeaway market compared with 6.4 per cent in 2009

He said they also had a responsibility to offer fish from sustainable stocks.

He said: 'It's getting harder and harder to run a fish and chip shop now. There are many costs that have been added onto small businesses and also people are choosing not to eat fish and chips or eat it elsewhere.

'Our industry has to keep evolving and investing in our shops to keep it current.

'One of the big stigmas attached to a fish and chip shop is that you pile it high and sell it as a massive meal and people don't want that so much anymore.

'People are grazing and eat lighter bites. We have changed by introducing lighter meals so people sitting in offices can have fish and chips without feeling so bloated.

'Many shops are now offering different sizes. You are cutting the calories and cutting the cost.

'The lighter bites and grazing options are becoming more useful in our industry. Change takes time but we are taking it onboard to offer multiple sizes and portions.'

UK vessels catch around 400,000 tonnes of fish every year, but the number of fishermen is down to 12,000 from around 20,000 in the mid 1990s.